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WAR NDA (probably) ends next week, CE pre-orders to join closed beta
Mythic's Mark Jacobs wrote a post-announcement update on the Vault Network boards today. The purpose of the post was to clarify some of the details about the release date, pre-orders, and the beta test. Warhammer Online fans should definitely read the post. Most of what he said was clarification about known information, but there were a couple big reveals.Jacob hopes that the nondisclosure agreement (NDA) that prevents current WAR beta testers from publicly discussing their experiences will end next week. He noted that three issues have been preventing the team from taking that step so far, but that progress has been made and resolutions are imminent.The other big news: folks who pre-ordered the Collector's Edition of the game will soon be invited to participate in the closed beta test. This is probably only a small win for those folks, given the rumors that the open beta is a couple weeks away. Jacobs declined to confirm a date for the open beta, saying that the announcement will come when the game is 100% ready. Not committing is a wise move in light of the problems Age of Conan had in its open beta event. Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out all of our previous Warhammer Online features, and don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!
E308: Interview reveals name of new AoC dungeon
At E3, MMO bloggers Keen and Graev caught up with Funcom Product Manager and all-around Age of Conan-spinster Erling Ellingsen. The Vault Network-hosted interview covers a lot of the same ground that we went over in our own talk with Ellingson, but there was one extra bit that we thought was worth mentioning. We know you don't want to miss a thing, so here it is!Ellingsen mentioned that a new dungeon instance called "House of Crom." He didn't give any information about it apart from the name, although Keen's prose suggested that he was unusually excited about it. We'd like to think that this House of Crom is, in fact, the actual house of the deity Crom, atop a monstrous mountain.We also find it fun to imagine that the name of that dungeon is basically a curse phrase. Crom's name is rarely invoked except in cursing and swearing in Howard's Conan novels. You don't want to attract Crom's attention, you know. He might kick your pathetic mortal ass.
Mythic expects WAR beta apps to reach one million
Forumites at the Vault Network boards started a thread speculating as to whether or not EA Mythic's Warhammer Online will reach one million beta apps when all's said and done. Mythic CEO and WAR lead designer Mark Jacobs promptly responded (as he's been known to do), assuring everyone that he and the WAR team have every expectation of achieving that goal."I'd be surprised if we didn't hit 1M once we start taking beta apps for our Asian partners," he said. "Even without Asia, based on our current sign-up rate, we should blow through 750K and we have a decent shot at 1M." He also noted that his original goalpost was 500,000 in North America and Europe, a goal which EA Mythic has "far surpassed."Maybe Funcom should take this as a throwing down of the gauntlet. Age of Conan's 500,000 beta sign-up number is impressive, but it looks like Funcom will have to do better than that to beat Warhammer![Via Keen and Graev]
JGE devs talk about death and roleplaying
The Vault Network recently posted a new Q & A session with Hermann Peterscheck, Producer of Jumpgate Evolution. Some interesting tidbits were revealed that I haven't come across before. When asked about role-playing potential, Peterscheck states that they want a game where the players define as much of it as possible, therefore it is very RP friendly. Case in point: there are three playable nations in JGE. While most MMOs don't allow interaction with other groups, that's not the case with JGE. Instead of forcing players into roles by creating three distinct areas, they feel that RP occurs more spontaneously when you give the players a reason to play the role as they see fit. When asked about how they were planning to handle death penalties, Peterscheck basically sidestepped the issue. He says it will be different from JG:C, which has players lose items upon death. And they seem to be staying away from a death penalty where you drop all your stuff and lose half a level of experience, but a straightforward "this is how we're dealing with death" answer wasn't given. There are a few more questions worth checking out, such as the prospects of crews, the classless system and home areas.
